On the Eleventh Day of Anime: Remembering the thrill with Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

I’m going to be honest here: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was a dubious anime at first because the Phantom Blood arc wasn’t all that great. Jojo wasn’t much of a compelling lead, Speedwagon yelled too much, the entire thing about Tarkus and Bruford seemed excessive, and other complaints of that vein. Those parts were dull, uninspired bits of an anime I came to love anyway. I can’t help it. Jojo’s may not be an anime of depth or meaning, but where the anime fails in content it instead makes up for in pure style. And muscles. And MUDAMUDAMUDA. And PLUCK. Aw shit, everything I’m complaining about adds to how much I enjoy this goddamn series.

I MEAN LOOK AT THIS. WHO LOOKS AT THIS AND DOESN’T THINK THAT THIS IS RIDICULOUS AS ALL HELL? WHO ALSO THINKS THAT JOJO ISN’T A FUCKING BADASS AFTER PULLING THIS OFF?

The kinds of anime I end up enjoying most are the ones that will irrevocably sweep you up and stuff you into the experience. It’s an experience so engrossing that you might as well revel in it anyway. Like if you’re stuck in a big glob of mochi and the only way to escape such sticky goodness is to eat your way out OMNOMNOMNOMNOM, Jojo’s is so full of itself that the best, nay, the only way to enjoy it is to just roll with its punches and laugh, cheer, and cry like a little bitch where it wants you to. I am left in awe at the stupidity (which is just another name for badassry) and the amount of testosterone necessary to withstand producing this anime in the first place. It made the 80’s kinda sorta look maybe okay about again.

One of the only other anime to abuse my lack of masculinity like this is Gurren Lagann. I didn’t care about the details, the lack of reason, the less-than-stellar bits (I’m looking at you, episode 4). However, all that paled in comparison to what TTGL ended up doing, and that was to go where no other man could possibly imagine. There was no direction for its plot to go other than forward, and watching it became an experience like no other. TTGL was an anime that required the viewer to be part of the experience. You needed to feel the emotions that the characters were feeling in order to suck up the full potential of awesomeness it was barraging into your face. I stopped trying to look at it objectively. There was no way in hell I was going to enjoy it if I looked at it objectively. I dropped everything and said “fuck it” before leaping into the cosmos with an audible SCHLORP. Basically, I’m saying this is what watching Jojo’s feels like too.

There are few anime that are willing to go as far into campzone and Fort Badass as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Please leave your higher reasoning and your skepticism at the front door, because you’re not going to need it where you’re going. You may be watching other anime for different reasons, but there’s a certain amount of personal investment needed in order to completely enjoy what Jojo’s is offering you on its Bedazzled, giant, absolutely fabulous silver platter.